Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

devalpatrickstore.com??

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You can check it out at www.devalpatrickstore.com

I know because I just got a nice shiny leaflet in the mail. Did you get it too? If so, who are you? A Patrick delegate? A random delegate? A volunteer? A registered Democrat? Other? What’s the strategy? (I could theoretically be any of those, though I’ve never actually volunteered for Patrick)

If you think this is a good idea — why?

If you think this is a dumb idea — go ahead, pile on đŸ™‚

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Comments

  1. At first I thought the target audience would just be individuals?, but they have breakdowns for 18″ x 24″ lawn signs for are as follows:

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    1-9  $10.50 each
    10-24  $9.00 each
    25-99  $8.00 each
    100plus  $7.00 each

     

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    So let me get this straight? Say I’m a senate district coordinator, collecting sign locations. Say I now have 200 locations.  Am I supposed to shell out $1,400 for 200 signs? Or maybe I could tell people when they call for a lawn sign, that they are only $7.00 each? 

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    Either this is a fake webpage OR an unauthorized webpage OR would the Deval Patrick Campaign really authorize a private interest to to make money off the massive hardworking field organization that Deval had built?

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    Please, someone from the campaign give us the 411 on the thinking here!!!!

  2. I love the obviously photoshopped image of a woman planting a DP lawn sign. Clearly whoever designed the site just found a picture of a woman planting a sign and covered it with the DP image.

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    This is too bizarre for words.

  3. I believe site was setup and is maintained by the Prospect Hill Company, an outside printing company, not the campaign itself. I assume the company uses the same template for all their campaign clients, and then they apply some photoshop action, as eury13 mentioned.

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    Does this baseball cap look familiar?

    • I’m not seeing a Union Bug on anything, maybe someone could point out to me where they are, or if they know for sure this is a Union Company in Brockton, MA?

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      Prospect Hill Company and DevalPatrickStore.com have the same street address in Brockton…

  4. There’s a direct link to devalpatrickstore.com on the official Patrick website, so it’s definitely legit. Many large campaigns do this to help save money. I remember friends in battleground states in 2004 having to shell out money if they wanted any Kerry Edwards signs.

  5. I think the devalpatrickstore is a great idea for (at least) a couple of reasons.

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    For one, it’s a great way for the campaign to get its materials widely distributed, even in places where there is (as yet) no organized campaign presence.

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    More importantly, it ensures that the schwag that is distributed will actually be used, and not end up in someone’s garage or political campaign collection. I’ve been told by old hands at this, for example, that they never just give away bumper stickers, they offer to put them on people’s cars.

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    Then, of course, there’s the advantage to the campaign of not having to bother with the administrative work of keeping track of all the requests. As I understand it, none of the proceeds go to the campaign, but the profit margin is so low that it’s no big loss.

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    And, I must say, as a Patrick supporter, I’m pleased to see that the campaign is marshalling its resources responsibly. I have seen other campaigns crash and burn early on because they overdid it in the tchotchke department. It would probably be a stretch to say this is emblematic of how Patrick would run his administration (efficiently, that is), but, hey, I’ll go there anyway!

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    All that said, I’ve never had any trouble (unless you count begging as trouble) getting bumper stickers and the like from the campaign when I’ve sponsored events such as house parties, or for use while leafleting at a local community event.

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    btw, I have (on loan from a friend) a lawn sign that came from the devalpatrickstore, and I can assure you it has a union bug. It’s a little hard to read, but it does say “Local 391” and I’d be happy to supply a scan if anyone wants to see it.

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    Finally, please note that the new campaign slogan is different from the one shown on the site. I don’t know which one is being shipped now, but if you were at the Convention, you saw all the signs with the new slogan, “Together We Can” — much better! imho…

  6. Major campaign efforts generally give supporters an opportunity to buy stuff.  You’ll note that Spitzer is selling through Demstore as are other state-level candidates.  I remember shelling out quite a bit of money as a Dean volunteer/supporter for houseparties, etc., as the campaign was organizing and getting off the ground. 

  7. Actually, this is an interesting way to exploit a loophole in the campaign finance law.  Let’s say I’ve already donated my max $500 this year to the campaign, but still want to help.  I can still buy signs or bumper stickers or whathaveyou because the store is an independent private printing company.  I can then give those signs away to my friends and neighbors, and that means fewer signs that the campaign itself has to be responsible for.

      • Although since these items are really cheap, you’d have to buy a lot to make a difference … I think you’d really have to be a supporter to buy up 500 lawnsigns and then get them handed out yourself.

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        Now if you were really under-handed, you could buy them and “store” them in the Deval office … where his staff would give them out as normal, only the campaign hadn’t paid for them.

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        Geez, that seems too easy. Any thoughts on if that is / isn’t an issue?

        • I’m pretty sure that would be an in-kind contribution, and it would count toward your $500 limit.

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          I’m not a campaign finance lawyer though.  So, someone who knows better should feel free to correct me.

              • so we can appreciate your comment, rather than assuming that you might be some precocious 9-year-old trying to sound cynical?
                (I’m not saying you are, I’m just saying your comment could be also made by someone like that.)

                • and all the money is committed to TV and the field operation needs a couple of thousand dollars to rent a few of vans, buy food and coffee for volunteers or GOTV door hangers.  They are told “no” by the campaign manager–or maybe to ask so and so.  All of a sudden it all happens.  No one knows how.  Under this scenario, something probably wasn’t reported.  Of course, this is all speculation.  And, as Andy pointed out, this can happen when volunteers are asked to buy campaign materials for a “store”.

                • I have to keep my eye on you Frank! đŸ˜‰  I made no such comment!  I will take credit however if it was a good comment, otherwise I didn’t say it.  That said I would have to assume that little things like Frank’s “hypothetical” happen all the time.

  8. The online store has been up since as long as I remember. It’s an independent company that prints the stuff and is liscenced by the campaign. The campaign buys the stuff from them and people can by it themselves if they want. This is pretty standard as far as I’m concerned.

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